Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 17, 1986Pickens County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 17, 1986, 9:45 PM CST for Pickens County, Alabama. It was in force for 50 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 17, 1986, 9:45 PM CST (03:45 UTC)
Expired: Feb 17, 1986, 10:35 PM CST
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Pickens County, AL

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 00:00Z, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 93 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1299 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 583 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 242 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 5.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 180345
SVRBHM
ALC093-133-127-107-180445-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
945 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1045 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN

ALABAMA... MARION WINSTON WALKER PICKENS


AT 945 PM CST RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS
FROM SOUTHEAST MARION COUNTY SOUTH TO NEAR FAYETTE AND PICKENS
COUNTY TO EAST OF MACON MISSISSIPPI. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH WITH STRONG INDICATIONS OF HAIL.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS DEFINED AS HAVING WINDS OF 58 MPH OR STRONGER
AND/OR HAIL 3/4 INCH I<N DIAMETER OR GREATER.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 17, 5:51 PM CST, 3 hours 54 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
550 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

...AT 545 PM, CST, ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS AT HAMILTON IN NORTHWEST
   ALABAMA REPORTED MARBLE SIZE HAIL 8 MILES EAST OF HAMILTON ON
   U. S. 278. THE HEAVY THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING THE HAIL WAS
   MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

Special weather statement, Feb 17, 7:10 PM CST, 2 hours 35 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
710 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

...HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTH ALABAMA..

MONTGOMERY WEATHER RADAR AT 710 PM CST INDICATED A CLUSTER OF VERY
HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS OVER ELMORE AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES.  OTHER
VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN A CLUSTER OVER COVINGTON COUNTY IN
SOUTH ALABAMA. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DECREASED IN INTENSITY DURING
THE PAST HOUR AS THEY MOVE TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS..HEAVY RAINS AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. RESIDENTS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH ALABAMA SHOULD BE
ALERT TO THE APPROACH OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

Local storm report, Feb 17, 7:28 PM CST, 2 hours 17 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
725 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

...AT 723 PM, CST, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AT HALEYVILLE IN NORTHWEST
   ALABAMA'S WINSTON COUNTY REPORTED THAT MARBLE SIZE HAIL WAS
   COVERING THE GROUND. THE THUNDERSTORM THAT WAS PRODUCING THE
   HAIL WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. HEAVY RAIN AND SHARP
   LIGHTNING WAS ALSO REPORTED BUT THERE WAS VERY LITTLE WIND.

Local storm report, Feb 17, 8:30 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
830 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

...THE CULLMAN COUNTY EMA OFFICE REPORTS ONE MOBILE HOME BLOWN OFF
   ITS FOUNDATION AT JONES CHAPEL AROUND 8:05 PM CST. JONES CHAPEL
   IS IN NORTHWEST CULLMAN COUNTY ON U. S. 278 ABOUT 20 MILES WEST
   OF CULLMAN. THIS IS ABOUT 55 AIR MILES NORTH-NORTHWEST OF
   BIRMINGHAM.

...THE EMA ALSO HAS NUMEROUS REPORTS OF HAIL ALL OVER WESTERN
   CULLMAN COUNTY. MOST OF$ THE HAIL WAS MARBLE SIZE.

...WFMH RADIO/CULLMAN ALSO REPORTED VIVID LIGHTNING AND HAIL
   AT WEST POINT AND LOGAN IN WEST CULLMAN COUNTY AT 8:15 PM.

Local storm report, Feb 17, 9:17 PM CST, 28 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
905 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

...AT 905 PM CST THE ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS AT HAMILTON REPORTED
   MARBLE SIZE HAIL AT GUIN IN MARION COUNTY ALABAMA.

Local storm report, Feb 17, 9:29 PM CST, 16 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
928 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986

...AT 923 PM CST THE ETOWAH COUNTY EMA OFFICE AT GADSDEN REPORTED
   WIND GUSTS TO 43 MPH IN DOWNTOWN GADSDEN. WIND DAMAGE HAS
   BEEN REPORTED AT MOUNTAINBORO ON WEST ETOWAH COUNTY WITH
   POWER LINES DOWN. THIS IS ON U. S. 431 ABOUT 15 MILES
   NORTHWEST OF GADSDEN.

...THIS SAME STORM PARTIALLY UNROOFED A HOME AT ALTOONA ALONG
   THE ETOWAH/BLOUNT COUNTY LINE W+ITH A MOBILE HOME ALSO DAMAGED.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 17, 8:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	40 min
Feb 17, 9:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	20 min
Feb 17, 9:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker, Winston	60 min
Feb 17, 9:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	40 min
Feb 17, 10:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	20 min
Feb 17, 10:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	60 min
Feb 17, 11:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton, Shelby	56 min
Feb 17, 11:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	56 min
Feb 18, 12:20 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Clay	40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1986 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.